A Dragon's Tale
by Karsh Silvermoon
Summary: When Angelic Layer goes worldwide, a new Element system is introduced to diversify the Angels. Serge, a boy living in America, has no idea what he's gotten himself into when he takes a rather creative path of Angel creation. End of first story arc!
1. Angels In America?

A Dragon's Tale  
Volume One: Angels in America?!

Disclaimer: Angelic Layer is the property of the wonderful women of CLAMP. Everything not from the series belongs to me.  
  
Author's Notes: This is my first fanfic, so bear with me if it's bad. Constructive criticism would be wonderful in helping me to become a better writer. Read and review, please. I want to see what direction you all would like me to take with this story. The other stuff will be at the bottom. Hope to see you there!

* * *

Serge sat at the dinner table, his mouth half open, caught just about to take a bite of his dinner, when he had seen what came on the news.  
The newscaster shifted slightly in her seat before continuing, "...and now, the creator and operator of Angelic Layer, Ichiro Mihara!"  
"Thank you," he said, "as a result of this year's national finals, in which an American, Aaron Lee, nearly took the Japanese title, as well as the increasing number of import orders from America for Angels and their accessories, Angelic Layer, in cooperation with Piffle Princess, has begun the stages of making Angelic Layer a worldwide competition. Starting in 2 months, Piffle Princess stores will open in countries across Europe, Asia, and the Americas."  
_I can't believe it! My wish came true!_ Serge thought, _Angelic Layer is coming to America!  
_ Mihara continued, "...as a result of the increased competition and variety of Angels that this decision will inevitably result in, we have decided to introduce a new aspect of Angelic Layer: the Element system. All Dei will be required to activate an elemental affinity for their Angels before they will be allowed to participate in any official Angelic Layer tournaments. The elements we will allow players to choose can be used to further an Angel's primary focus, or compensate for a deficiency."  
Serge smiled, "I wonder if you can use multiple elements... that would make a really cool Angel..."  
"The elements that players will be allowed to choose are as follows: Earth, Wind, Fire, Water, Ice, Light, Dark, Energy, and Time. Each of these elements will lend a specific power to the Angel that selects them."  
A graphic appeared on screen, with a table showing the abilities of every element: Minuses indicate penalties, and pluses indicate bonuses. The degree of the bonus or penalty is represented by the letter grade, which is the level of the bonus or penalty: 

Earth: Attack: D Defense: S Speed: B- Additional: 15% Damage Capacity  
Wind: Attack: C Defense: D- Speed: A  
Fire: Attack: A Defense: C- Speed: C- Additonal: 10% Damage Capacity  
Water: Attack: D Defense: B Speed: C Additional: -15% Damage Capacity  
Ice: Attack: C Defense: B Speed: D Additional: -15% Damage Capacity  
Light: Attack: C Defense: B Speed: C Additional: -20% Damage Capacity  
Dark: Attack: S Defense: A- Speed: D Additional: -10% Damage Capacity  
Energy: Attack: D Defense: B- Speed: S Additonal: -10% Damage Capacity  
Time: Attack: No bonus Defense: No Bonus Speed: No Bonus  
  
"...as you can see, there are multiple well rounded boosts and penalties, and for each category, there is one affinity that results in an S Class boost for one attribute, which is the highest enhancement available. In recognition of the Dei that may choose to not alter their Angel's abilities, the Time affinity is available. "A new stat will be added to the Angel data computer, Special, which can be devoted to multitasking Elemental enhancements, or enhancing the Elements' effects.  
"In addition, Elements will have weaknesses to other elements, resulting in increased damage caused by an element strong to the angel being attacked. The order goes as follows: Wind is strong vs. Earth. Earth is strong vs. Water. Water is strong vs. Fire. Fire is strong vs. Ice. Ice is strong vs. Wind. Energy is strong to Water and Ice, but is weak to both Earth and Wind. Light and Dark are strong against each other, and Time has no elemental affinity that is strong or weak to it. It is up to the players to figure out how to activate the element or elements that their angel is aligned with. We feel that this new addition will open up a new world of fighting strategies for our Dei, and look forward to the new World Championship tournament in Japan that will pit the national champions of every country against one another."  
"Ok... question answered," Serge said. The news had switched to a different story now, so he lost interest and set about preparing to buy his own angel. He was 15 years old, so he was perfectly capable of paying for the Angel himself, and he had actually been saving to import one from Japan. Now that they were being released in America, however, he had saved more than enough to buy everything he would need.  
"What was that news story that you were watching so intently, Serge?" his mother asked.  
"Angelic Layer is coming to America, and they're implementing a new element system to increase the variety of Angels!" Serge exclaimed, barely able to control his excitement.  
"So you mean that you don't have to spend all of your money importing one from Japan any more? That's wonderful, Serge!" His mom wasn't sure whether it was normal for her son to want to play Angelic Layer, but she had decided long ago to give him a fairly large amount of leeway in what he wanted to do, so she was going to do her best to be supportive.  
Serge began sprinting up the stairs. "Where are you going off to? I doubt that you can order an Angel right away," his mom asked.  
"I know that, but because I'm not too good with my hands, I want plenty of time to make my Angel's armor so that it looks really cool. So I'm going to import some material so I can get a head start. Anyways, I have too much money saved now, so I can afford to do this!" he replied.  
His mother just smiled and moved on to finish cleaning up after their dinner.  
  
**20 Minutes Later**  
  
Serge hit the enter button with a resounding finality, as he had just finished ordering the material he would use to make the armor for his angel, after double- and triple-checking the design he had made so long ago for what his Angel would look like. "I'll have everything ready for you... so just wait. You'll be the perfect Angel, Karsh. I know just what to do."

* * *

**Meanwhile, in Japan, in a somewhat familiar control room...**  
  
"Are you sure about this, Chief? A lot of Angels will be rendered obsolete just because of a mismatched element affinity..." Ogata questioned.  
"Nonsense! Admittedly, if a Deus doesn't know what they are doing when they make their Angel, they can corner themselves, but I made the Special stat so that people could choose 2 elements and switch between them in case they encountered an Angel that is strong to their type," Ichiro replied. "And anyways," Ichiro paused to allow a flash of light catch his glasses, "This new system will allow players to push their Angels to new heights. I can't wait to see how they manage to exceed my imagination."  
Ogata looked as if he were going to press the issue further, but thought better of it, and just lowered his head, "If you say so..."  
  
**End of Volume One**

Author's Notes Part II: Sorry if the Element descriptions are a bit confusing. I had originally written a paragraph explanation for each of the elements, but I read over it and got the feeling you guys would get somewhat bored reading through all of the technical information. Suffice to say that Wind and Energy are speed types; Fire and Darkness are attack types; Ice, Water, and Earth are defense types, Light is a balanced type, and Time is just there for those that like their angel the way they are. I know this chapter was a bit boring, but it will get better once Serge learns how to properly control his Angel. Next chapter will be somewhat short, because I think the Angel development process deserves a chapter of its own, regardless of how little material there is to cover.


	2. An Angel Is Born

A Dragon's Tale  
Chapter 2: The Birth of an Angel  
  
Disclaimer: CLAMP owns Angelic Layer, not me. They're cool like that, and I wouldn't want to cut in on their profits even if I could make money off this. So don't sue me! .  
  
Author's Notes: 2 months have passed, and Serge has spent most of them busy making the perfect armor for Karsh. Short chapter, but it deserves its own. Read and Review, and I'll hopefully see you at the bottom!

* * *

The egg made a dull click as it popped open for the first time in Serge's hands. The shock absorbent liquid overflowed out of the egg, and was quickly sucked down the bathtub's drain. "Wait until you see what I have planned for you, Karsh. I've got your armor all made, and your parameters all planned out. I've been waiting for an Angel for so long..." The doll didn't reply, it just lay limp in his hands, a blank slate waiting to be carved.  
Serge toweled the doll dry, and then returned to his room to apply everything he had planned for so long. He took out the hairpiece he had ordered and worked on for the last 2 months. Twice he had decided he didn't like what had become of the hair and had to start over, but now he was sure it was perfect. The hair was a dark blonde, almost brown, and cut very short in the back. The rest of the hair was spiked and slicked back, creating the image of teeth in a shark's mouth.  
He smiled and placed the hair that he had worked for so long on the angel's head. "Perfect. I knew it would look great," he said, double- checking the CG model he had long since perfected for accuracy.  
Taking a look at the instructions, he read out loud, "Now that your Angel has hair, set up the Data Computer and place the 2 control rings on the miniature layer." He did so, and read, "Now turn on the Data Computer and hit 'Initialize.'" He smirked as the rings separated, creating an orange pillar between them, and without reading, placed his Angel in the space. The angel silently hovered over the layer, its hair stirred by an invisible force only inside the layer.  
After a minute, a new screen popped up on the computer, "Please set your Angel's parameters. Do you want a speed emphasis Angel? Perhaps an Angel focusing on Defense? Attack? Or maybe a combination of all three... a balanced Angel?"  
Serge blinked, _Balanced? I've never heard of a balanced angel before. Perhaps it's a new setting because of the elemental system. Well, this changes things. Now I don't have to waste points equalizing his base stats._ He selected "Balanced," and a new menu opened up.  
"What weight class should your angel have? Lightweights are generally faster with worse offensive and defensive capabilities, middleweights are a balance of all 3 attributes, and heavyweights are usually slow but strong." Serge selected "middleweight," and moved on.  
"Please distribute your angel's points between speed, defense, attack, and special." Serge checked the base stats. All of them were set at D, slightly below average. "Well, I certainly hope that elements provide large bonuses, or I could end up losing very quickly." He shrugged and put all of his available points into Special and pressed Enter.  
A small dialogue box opened up, with a warning, "WARNING! Your selection has left your angel with little to no ability to defend itself or attack. You may wish to reconsider your settings. Proceed?"  
"Yeah, yeah... I know what I'm doing," Serge muttered as he clicked 'Yes' to proceed with his Angel's creation, "...I think."   
The next screen was for his elements: "Special Points: 12. Please select at least one element." Serge clicked on every box for the elements except Time, put 1 point into Elemental Multitasking, and put the remaining 3 points into Elemental Affinity. With all of his special points used up, he hit Enter, and the Data Computer's screen went blank.   
"Wait... what?" Serge blinked. He tapped the computer and stared at the screen for around 30 seconds. Frowning, he turned to take his Angel out of the miniature layer, "This better not have screwed Karsh up... I paid a lot of money for him."   
His hand recoiled as he saw the layer's aura slowly change from orange to all the colors of the spectrum, and he realized that this new delay was caused by the added need to upload his selection of elements into the Angel. _I bet they didn't anticipate anyone choosing so many elements, so normally the creator wouldn't notice any real delay. This may turn out better than I thought, if this works as well as I'm hoping it will,_ he thought.   
He turned back to the computer as the final menu appeared on the screen: "Please name your Angel." Serge took a big breath and entered the letters K-A-R-S-H in the computer, and hit Enter. The computer spent a few seconds processing, and then shut itself off, its job being finished for now.   
Serge took Karsh off of the miniature layer and turned it off, catching the rings before they fell to the layer, and inevitably, off the table. Briefly scanning the manual, "Now it's time to make your Angel some..." he read, "Bah, I've already done that. Anything else..." He flipped through the last few pages, finding nothing but legal information and warranty details. _Well, it looks like I've finished once I put his armor on... _he thought, _and then I just have to learn how to control him._   
Serge walked to his dresser, where he had dedicated an entire drawer, albeit a smaller one, to storing his Angel's armor. Sliding open the drawer, he extracted the armor, and carried it reverently back over to the table. The armor consisted of a metallic blue, almost teal, breastplate, with two small, almost triangular, outcrops on the back, which the control cords fed out of the angel; one rounded pauldron covering the right shoulder; an elaborate left armguard with overlapping sheets of the strongest armor-type on the market that slid over each other for unimpaired movement; angled gauntlets made of the same material as the breastplate; and armored greaves and cuisses made out of the same material as that of the armguard.   
Serge then set about getting the armor he had made onto his Angel, which was proving to be more difficult than he had anticipated, "Now I see why you're supposed to make the armor on the Angel after you have it... this is like trying to squeeze a ship into a bottle instead of building the ship inside of it." After a large amount of effort, and more than a little colorful language, he had finally gotten the armor onto his Angel.  
  
**30 Minutes Later  
**  
"Well, you stubborn little... I've finally won! Man, after all that grief I went through trying to get Karsh equipped, I'm..." Serge's monologue was interrupted by a huge yawn, "tired."   
Serge stood up and stretched before getting ready for bed. When he returned, he placed the Angel on a pillow he usually just tossed off of his bed because it was too small to be of any use to him. "Goodnight, Karsh. Shawn and Dean know I made you tonight, so we'll probably go to the Piffle Princess tomorrow afternoon so they can help me learn to play..." And with that, he turned the reading light next to his bed off, and rolled over, into sleep.  
  
**End of Volume Two  
**

* * *

Author's Notes II: I'm finally done with this chapter! It took a lot longer than I had expected because I was suddenly attacked with a vicious case of writer's block, trying to figure out how I wanted Karsh created. I hope to crank out Volume Three by the end of today, as well, because I don't want to leave my readers (however many there are, =3) with no fighting or anything for three weeks. That's right, I won't be able to update for 3 weeks because I am going out of town with no access to the internet, much less a computer. Many apologies, but I promise that if I do not get Volume Three done today, it will go up as soon as humanly possible when I return. Read and Review please, even if you don't have anything to really say, it makes me happy to know people read the story. I'll do my best to answer any signed reviews via e-mail, so I can better explain your questions and further learn from your suggestions.  
  
One more thing, it's come to my attention that the actual pronunciation of "Serge" is "Sayr-gay." I knew of the name Sergei, but I was trying for something a little different. For the purposes of this fanfic, Serge's name is pronounced "Surge." There's a possibility I will change his name in the future, but for the time being, bear with me. 


	3. An Angel, or a Demon?

A Dragon's Tale

Volume Three: An Angel, or a Demon?

Disclaimer: Angelic Layer belongs to CLAMP, not me. Not being sued is one of my hobbies.

Author's Notes: Looks like it took longer to get around to starting this third volume than I had expected. I hate to make excuses, but I had a lot of recovering (I.E. Sleeping) to do when I got back from my trip. This volume should be a lot of fun, because Karsh has his first fight towards the end.

To answer a question that was posed in one of the reviews of the second volume, I have played Chrono Cross, but that wasn't the inspiration for the names of the main characters. I actually got a good laugh when I realized that both Serge and Karsh are characters in Chrono Cross, but I guarantee you that the game characters were not in any way the inspiration for the characters in my story.

Anyways... Have fun reading, and I'll see you at the bottom!

"So you finished it?"

"Yep. If I ever make another Angel, I'll be sure to leave the armor creation process until after I have the physical Angel. It took me 30 minutes to get the armor on him without breaking anything," Serge muttered.

"Haha... Oh, well. You got it on, didn't you?"

"Right... anyways, when should I start heading to the Piffle Princess to meet you guys?"

"Dean's been there since the store opened. I'm just fixing to leave for there myself, which is why I called you. Want me to come pick you up?"

"Sure, that would be great. That way you can tell me some of the basics on the way there. See you in a few minutes." Serge hung up the phone with a click, and immediately set about getting his things together to go and practice Angelic Layer for the first time.

He hopped around the room looking for his walled as he tried to put a pair of shorts on at the same time. "Where is it—ah!" his self-commentary was interrupted by two things: first, he had found his wallet, and second, he had fallen over some random clothing strewn about his bedroom floor. "Ow."

He picked himself up, and shoved his wallet into his back pocket just as Shawn honked outside. Charging out of his room, he called a brief explanation to his mom as he ran past her towards the door. "Piffle Princess. Shawn and Dean. Bye!"

"Serge, aren't you forgetting..." his mother began, only to be interrupted by the slamming of the front door. She only smiled and began counting, "One... two... three... four... five..."

The door opened again, slowly this time, and Serge slipped through. He muttered sheepishly as he passed her, eyes downcast, "Forgot my Angel."

His mother couldn't help but laugh, but managed to compose herself before he came back down the stairs, and caught him before he reached the door to give him a hug. "Have fun, don't spend too much money, and be back by 5:00."

Serge broke free of his mother's embrace, nodded, and slipped back out the door.

**10 Minutes Later, at the Piffle Princess**

"Ok, I think I understand the basics of how to control Karsh. Does Dean know we're here?" Serge asked as they got out of Shawn's car.

"Yeah, I called to let him know we'd be here when you forgot your Angel, so he should be waiting for us near the rental counter."

They headed inside, and Serge followed Shawn over to the counter where Dei could rent Layers and enter the biweekly tournaments held in the Piffle Princess. "Hey, Dean," Serge said as Dean moved to meet with them.

Dean nodded to Serge in greeting, as he usually did. "I got us one of the big four-person layers for a few hours. You guys can pay me back later."

The three friends moved to the large layer that had four seats and headsets, and got out their angels. Shawn and Dean had had their Angels for about two weeks already, because they both used female Angels, while Serge was forced to wait a while longer for the small shipment of male Angels to get in. Therefore, Shawn and Dean jumped right into a fight on a better part of the layer, while Serge took up a smaller space, learning how to control Karsh.

Shawn's Angel was a lightweight one, built with an emphasis on speed. He had selected Wind as her elemental affinity, and her armor was a lightweight, form-fitting forest green. She had a left glove, which extended to halfway up her forearm, and had a small wind crest on it, a circle with a dark green dot in the middle, and several grey crescents extending out from it. Her control cords extended from the back of a crown of small feathers on her head, which covered most of her, surprisingly, shoulder-length green hair. Her name was Echo.

Dean's Angel was a middleweight with an emphasis on attack. He chose Fire for her elemental affinity, and she wore loose red clothes, made out of a lighter type of armor than was probably safe. She had brown fighting gloves, which ended just before the third knuckle, exposing her fingertips. Her hair was black, and it was bunched up in one large braid down to her waist. Her control cords were also coiled in the braids. Her name was Farah.

However, neither Shawn nor Dean, nor anyone, for that matter, had figured out how to activate their Angel's elements. The realization of this hit Serge as he watched how much slower Karsh was than even Farah.

After an hour and a half of practice, the three decided to take a break and get some lunch. They headed to the small food court in the Piffle Princess, which was more a small mall than a large store.

"It's weird, Serge," Dean wondered, slightly detached, "when Shawn and I weren't fighting, I watched you practice, and I can't figure it out... what is your Angel's emphasis? He doesn't seem to be very fast, and his punches don't seem to have much force behind them. What gives? Is Karsh a defensive Angel?"

"No... Karsh is unique like that. He doesn't have an emphasis on speed, attack, or defense. All three of his attributes are equal. I left them that way so that he would have room to be fully versatile by using elements."

Shawn glanced at Serge, and frowned, "You mean your Angel depends entirely on having Elements to be strong? Suppose you can't figure out how to activate Karsh's elements? Seems risky to me."

"It is," Serge answered, "I based the entire creation process of Karsh on my assumption that I could figure out how to use the elements, and that the bonuses, when boosted, would make up for a normal deficiency in stats. Before you scold me, though... consider what would happen if I am right. Karsh would be nearly invincible, because his stats could change to meet the demands of the situation. If he is fighting a high defense Angel, he can focus on attack, while if he's fighting a speed Angel, he can emphasize his defense."

Dean smiled and patted Serge on the back. "Then let's hope you're right. These Angels are expensive, and I would hate to see you have to buy another one. Well, let's get back to the Layer... the longer we sit here, the more money we waste!"

They returned to the training room, and Serge proceeded to spend the next hour trying in vain to find the answer to the riddle of how to activate an Angel's element.

After beating Dean for the tenth time that day, Shawn got up to take a break and just walk around for a while. Dean took the break in his constant defeat to just sit back and look around. "Great..." he muttered, causing Serge to look up from staring at Karsh, who had been, in turn, staring back at him, "it's that bastard Ian. Why can't he just leave? He knows everyone hates him..."

Ian was a skinny, pale kid whose family was extremely wealthy. His parents were never really there to spend time with him, so he had quickly become a spoiled, immature brat. He treated everyone around him like dirt, and as such, he had no friends, which only prompted him to be an even less desirable friend.

"Well, well... if it isn't Dean and Serge. How's life in the slums? Come here to ogle everyone else's Angels?" Ian asked in his whiny drawl. "Oh, look here... Dean and Sergey-poo are pretending they can play Angelic Layer! Who did you two steal those Angels from? Someone at the insane asylum?"

Dean's teeth gritted, his family wasn't particularly wealthy, but his parents did their best to support him and his three siblings. Money was a rather sensitive subject to him. "Beat it, Ian. Serge and I didn't steal these from anyone, and you know it."

"You mean to tell me you actually _made_ these Angels? Ha! It looks like a three year-old made them."

This time it was Serge's turn to grit his teeth. He admitted that he wasn't the best artist, but he had put a lot of effort into making his Angel's armor, and wasn't about to sit by and let the biggest jerk in the city make fun of it. "At least we had the integrity to make ours ourselves, Ian. You probably paid someone to make yours for you."

Ian sniffed, "Not that it's any of your business, but yes, I did. I had Father special order me the first male Angel that reached America. Father knows some important people in Japan, and got in touch with a master designer."

Serge smiled, "Do you even know what your angel's element is?"

Ian blinked, "No, not that it matters. My Mage is fine without using his element. He's perfect anyways." He took out his angel, which appeared to basically be Ohjiro Mihara's Wizard, only Mage had varying shades of orange for his colorset.

Not only Serge, but also Karsh on the layer, were consumed by a fit of laughter, hearing the name that Ian had given his Angel. "Mage?!? Hahaha... you can't be serious. You couldn't come up with something more original than that? Ohjiro Mihara would be insulted to hear that a brat like you was imitating his Angel."

"Oh yeah? Well... uhh... Ichiro Mihara would be insulted to hear that a... buffoon... like you would make such a ridiculous... outfit... for an Angel."

Dean was in tears on the ground, laughing at Ian's terrible excuse for a witty comeback, and Serge couldn't help but burst out laughing again.

"Well, no matter. Regardless of what _you_ think, Mage is far above any of your angels."

Dean grinned, "Wanna back that up?"

Serge shot Dean a warning glance, "It's ok, Dean... I'll prove him wrong."

"Oh? Little Serge thinks his joke can beat my Mage? Want to bet on it? Loser has to enter the tournament in two weeks, but their Angel has to wear a dress instead of their normal armor. And the loser also has to obey the winner's every wish for a week."

Serge shook his head, "I wouldn't want to have you serving me on hand and foot for that long. I would probably end up ordering you to go away after the first day anyways... so let's cut it down to obeying the other for one day."

Ian shrugged, "Whatever. That just means you'll have to work faster to weed all of Mother's flowerbeds, clean my rooms, and mow Father's lawn."

Serge and Ian took their places at either end of the Layer, and a small crowd began gathering around to watch the fight. Shawn elbowed his way through, and took his place at Serge's right, while Dean, standing just to the left of Serge, explained what had happened.

Shawn looked at Serge, "I hope you can figure out how to use your elements, Serge. Ian had a professional design his Angel. All I know is that it has an extreme defense rating. Be careful."

Serge nodded, and turned his attention to Ian, who had decided to throw his Angel in first. "Arcane guard, shatter all that would oppose your master, Mage!"

Dean was consumed by laughter again, "Arcane guard? That's priceless! This kid has no originality what-so-ever. Good luck, Serge. Whip him for me."

Serge swallowed as his mind raced, trying to think of an entry phrase. Settling upon one he liked, he drew Karsh back and threw him into the Layer, shouting, "Show the power of a dragon's fury, Karsh, King of Dragons!"

Karsh landed, and drew himself up to his full height, slowly spreading his legs apart to form a low center of gravity, holding his right fist in front of him, clenched and upturned, at waist level, his left held out at chest height, his small and ring finger and his thumb bent inwards, with his index and middle finger held straight up. Mage simply stood, slouching slightly, like his deus.

Serge decided to make the first move, and Karsh sprinted towards Mage, moving relatively slowly. He closed the gap, and threw a punch, connecting with Mage's lower jaw. Serge grinned to himself, but his grin quickly turned to a grimace as Mage's damage capacity dropped almost imperceptibly. Mage grabbed Karsh's still outstretched hand, spun, and threw him over Mage's shoulder, slamming him into the ground.

Ian laughed as 10% of Karsh's DC drained from the throw. "Pathetic," he said, loud enough that everyone standing around could hear him, "looks like your Angel has nothing going for it. What did you do, forget to use any of your stat points?"

Mage picked Karsh up off of the ground, holding him by the neck. He lifted Karsh up as far as he could, and threw a crunching right hook that sent Karsh flying several feet before he hit the ground. Serge gasped in horror as his Angel's DC dropped by a devastating 25% from the one hit. Karsh struggled to his feet as Mage closed the distance once more, and aimed a roundhouse kick at the back of Mage's head.

Mage made no motion to dodge this, and as the kick connected, he reached over and grabbed Karsh's outstretched leg, kicked Karsh's remaining free knee, and delivered a spinning uppercut into Karsh's midsection as he fell to the Layer.

Karsh collapsed, clenching his stomach, and Serge suddenly found himself getting very angry. _There's no way Karsh can lose to a joke like this Mage..._ he thought, _I spent too much time and money on him... But what can I do? Most likely the next hit will be the final one. Karsh only has 20% DC remaining..._

Mage stepped away from the stunned Angel lying on the Layer, and began goading the crowd into laughing at the pathetic limp form of Serge's Angel, completely helpless on the Layer.

Serge clenched his fists in fury, his mind desperately searching for a way to turn the tables on Mage. Suddenly, it hit him... _If a Deus has to make some sort of a flashy entrance into the Layer... maybe they have to find a flashy way to activate their Angel's Elements!_

He smirked, and Ian stopped laughing, seeing the smirk on Serge's face. "Oh? Seem to think you've found a way to win, eh? Nothing can penetrate Mage's extreme defense rating, and your Angel isn't even strong enough to stand up after being hit by one of Mage's weak attacks. You're wasting your time. Don't worry, though, I'll pay for the dress Karsh will have to wear."

"It will be an inexpensive one, then, because Karsh won't be wearing a dress. This is the end!"

Karsh slowly stood, and Serge shouted, "Come forth, unholy flames! Eater Beneath the Tree of Life, Nidhogg!" Dragon wings burst from the triangular outcrops on Karsh's back, and he was suddenly consumed by a pillar of black fire.

The Angel's appearance had changed greatly, his armor now black and sprouting spikes. His eyes, normally gray, now burned with black hatred. Mage froze in fear, in spite of Ian, as Karsh slowly advanced. Black fire dripped from Karsh's wings, scorching the Layer black where it landed.

Karsh now stood immediately in front of Mage, and slowly lifted both of his palms into the air, outstretched and facing upward. He slowly threw his head back, closed his eyes, and took a deep breath.

His eyes snapped open, and he dealt Mage a shattering blow across his cheek, sending Mage flying, nearly from one end of the Layer to the other. Ian shrieked in horror as 90% of Mage's DC disappeared nearly at once. Karsh slowly crossed the layer, as Mage scrambled backward, trying in vain to escape the wrath of the Angelic Demon. Karsh lifted Mage off of the Layer, just as Mage had done to him not long ago, holding him by the neck. Karsh's gaze transfixed Mage, and the Angel went suddenly limp.

Karsh tossed Mage into the air, jumping after him with a mighty flap of his wings. At the height of Mage's arc, which was nearly the top of the Layer, Karsh met him there, and twisted deftly through the air, connecting a bone-shattering kick that sent Mage crashing to the layer, several feet below. Mage bounced upwards as he hit the ground, and the crowd gasped as they heard an audible snap issuing from Mage's frame. Karsh connected a final, double-footed kick, which slammed Mage back to the Layer, still standing on him. Mage's remaining 10% DC inevitably disappeared from the combo, and Karsh withdrew his wings as he jumped off the layer, into Serge's hands.

A stunned silence hung over the crowd. They couldn't believe what they had just seen. Serge was probably one of the first 10 people in the world to unlock his Angel's elements. Ian was in tears, holding his limp and broken Mage. "You... you _monster!_" he screamed. Serge gave no reply, save a malicious smile.

Shawn blinked, stunned, "That... was... awesome! How did you do that?"

Dean echoed Shawn, "How in the... what... wow."

Serge shrugged, "I'll explain later. I don't know if I really understand it completely yet or not..."

The group of people watching their fight flocked around Serge, congratulating him and begging to be told how he had used the Elements to defeat Mage. One man turned away as the battle ended, heading to the nearest telephone, " A boy just used two elements to defeat an opponent in an Angelic Fight. He's an American kid, name is Serge. Angel Karsh. "

**Several thousand miles away, in Japan...**

Ichiro Mihara smiled. "One."

**End of Volume Three**

Author's Notes II: This chapter took a lot less time than I thought it would to write, considering how long it is. Feedback on the fight scene would be greatly appreciated. Even if you don't have any feedback, please drop me a review or an e-mail, just letting me know you read it. Next episode will find Serge competing in the Piffle Princess tournament, against Shawn, Dean, Ian (again), and others! See you then!

**Inspirational Music for the Fight:  
Pre-Elements: Bad Situation and Raikiri from the Naruto soundtrack.  
Post-Elements: Slither by Velvet Revolver**


	4. The Gathering Storm

A Dragon's Tale

Volume Four: The Gathering Storm

Disclaimer: Angelic Layer is to CLAMP as this story is to me. Lawsuits bad.

Author's Notes: Woo-hoo! A Dragon's Tale returns with the advent of summer. Apologies all around to everybody (all two of you) that felt let down because I dropped the fanfic. I just sort of realized that I hadn't planned past what I already had written out, and instead of trying to figure out a way to make it work, I just dropped the project, and then school started up and began kicking my butt. Hopefully people are still out there to read this! Read and review, and I'll see you at the bottom!

Serge uttered a low whistle as he saw the line stretching out from the counter all the way to the door of the Piffle Princess. "Wow, quite a number of people signing up for the tournament today."

Dean smiled and nodded. "There's a rumor going around that the winners of the first round of tournaments in America are going to win some special augmentation to their Angels, so you can bet that everyone with an Angel is going to at least enter."

Frowning, Serge glanced up at Dean, "I still don't understand why you and Shawn aren't entering. You two have a pretty good shot at winning this tournament."

Dean laughed, "I'd rather not have my angel torn to pieces like you did to Ian's joke. I'm just fine waiting until I think I can fight you without taking Farah home in several small bags. Anyways, I just want to sit this one out and watch, anyways, since I know if I entered, Shawn would too. Then he would mop the floor with me. I'm just going to be your cheering section for now."

Serge shrugged and craned his neck upwards, trying to count how many people were between him and the registration counter. "I knew we should have gotten up an hour earlier…"

**Thirty Minutes Later…**

"Well, that was only like pulling teeth. Let's see… my number is 54." Serge glanced at the growing tournament bracket and saw that it was divided up into days. The first day would host the first heat, the second the next two, and the third the last two heats, ending in the championship match between the winner. With 64 participants, the maximum allowed for the tournament, any one person's chances of winning were slightly dismal.

The three friends walked to the layers that had been set aside for the tournament, and Shawn glanced at Serge, grinning. "Lucky we got here when we did, only ten people got in after you. It would have been a shame if you didn't get to scrap some strangers' angels while trying to become even stronger..." He trailed off as he saw one of the only other boys in the tournament seated at a layer, concentrating on beating the pulp out of a young girl's angel. "Uhmm… guys?" Pointing at the boy, he scratched his head with his free hand. "Isn't that…"

"…Aaron Lee," Dean finished Shawn's sentence for him.

Sure enough, it was Aaron Lee at their local Piffle Princess tournament. Aaron was seventeen years old, with sandy blonde hair and green eyes. He seemed like the kind of person that was never in a hurry, eyes half-closed, even during a fight. They had all heard the only time anyone outside of his close friends and family had seen him completely open his eyes was during the final match of last year's Angelic Layer Championship in Tokyo.

Aaron's angel, Sonata, was an attack type, with a secondary emphasis on speed. Her defense was nearly zero, which had cost him the match at the finals, but it was harder to hit her than one would expect. In addition to being a very effective angel, Aaron had a natural talent for playing Angelic Layer, and his reaction times were, compared to those of an average player, several times faster. She was an authentic-looking ninja, wearing a shinobi shozoku, with light but effective mesh under-armor. The only discrepancy was the lack of a hood, as Aaron had opted instead to simply mask her mouth and nose, leaving her hair uncovered. It was a dark red, and her hair fell just above her eyes in the front, although she had a long pony-tail which reached almost to her ankles. It was anyone's guess as to what her element was.

Aaron finished the fight two minutes into it with an uppercut that resulted in a combination KO and ring-out. Then, looking up, he saw Shawn, Dean, and Serge staring at him and smiled, "So, then, are you this Serge I've been hearing so much about? Strange, I would've thought you'd look older."

Serge nodded, somewhat at a loss for words.

"Don't be so surprised. Anyone that gives a hoot about Angelic Layer has already heard about what happened. I came down here to see exactly how good you are. I'm going to go around and watch some more matches since I'm done here for today. I look forward to seeing yours this afternoon, and then to fighting you in the finals. Later." Aaron walked off, the crowd parting slightly as he moved through it.

Dean grinned. "Dude… you're screwed. Oh, it's cool that Aaron knows your name, though." Serge nodded in reply, and opened his mouth to say something when the loudspeaker came on.

"Calling numbers 53 and 54 to layer four. Numbers 53 and 54, your match is about to begin, please report to layer four."

"Well, that's you." Shawn said. "Knock 'em dead. Karsh can do it, you know."

Serge nodded and took a seat at one end of the layer, looking up as he heard a gasp.

A girl who looked to be about twelve had just walked up to the layer, and in her hand she held a strip of paper with the number 53 on it. The slip of paper fluttered silently to the floor, and her eyes widened as she recognized Serge's angel, who was sitting on one of the chair's armrests. She grabbed the sleeve of the layer's emcee and whispered into her ear.

A bit confused, the emcee straightened up and looked about. "Well, folks, I'm sure a lot of you wanted to see what Karsh could do today, but I'm afraid that angel Whisper has withdrawn from the match." She raised her right hand, the one that was closest to Serge. "Therefore, by default, I declare angel Karsh the winner of this match. Karsh will advance to the second round, and we can only hope to see more of him there."

Serge grabbed his things, stuffed them into his backpack, and rose, heading for the door with Shawn and Dean in tow. "Did you see that? That girl was _afraid_. I didn't want to play Angelic Layer to be feared by the other Dei…"

Shawn tilted his head to the side, "I dunno, Serge. Seems pretty cool to me that you can advance through a tournament without actually having to fight."

Serge shrugged and the three piled into Shawn's car, and headed home.

**Meanwhile...**

Three figures watched from the shadows as Shawn's car pulled out of the parking lot. Two were boys, one was a girl, and all of them looked to be about 15 years old. The taller boy smiled, "Well, it looks like we've got our work cut out for us."

The girl nodded, brushing a few strands of auburn hair out of her face. "He's too dangerous to leave in the hands of such an amateur."

Just then, Aaron approached them. "I don't know what you're planning, but hold off until I have a shot at him. I'm confident that the problem can be solved before it even begins."

The three figures nodded and turned to head into the store, while Aaron remained outside, watching Shawn's car disappear down the road. "I'm sorry, Serge." Then, he turned and followed the other three in.

**End of Volume Four**

Author's Notes, Part Deux: Well, guys. I don't know what to say. I can only hope that a near-year of inactivity hasn't had too much of an ill effect on my writing. Sorry to lead everyone on about there being another battle in this volume, but I promise that Serge's next opponent won't be so afraid. I'm going to commit to working on this fanfic a lot more now, so hopefully nothing will happen that results in another 10 month silence from me. Thanks for reading! (Author's notes; v2.0: Something weird happened and my original title for this volume made it through to the actual page, so I've reposted it with the new title. Yarg! I've started work on Volume 5, so expect it shortly!)


	5. The Calm Before the Storm

A Dragon's Tale

Volume 5: The Calm Before the Storm

Disclaimer: As cool as it would be, the rights to Angelic Layer don't belong to me. They belong to that super-cool group CLAMP, who would never sue a fanboy like me. Right? Incidentally, everything in this story that _doesn't_ belong to someone else is my property.

Author's Notes: Alrighty, well, after a bit of a mix-up with the title of last volume, I guess I'm going to have to be more careful. Still not quite clear on how that happened, but anyways! Double the fightingses in this chapter, which should be fun for all! Read and review, please, and I'll see you at the bottom!

* * *

Serge looked across the layer at his opponent, a young girl probably half his age. She didn't seem like the kind of person that would have decided to take anything so seriously by her age, but she hadn't withdrawn from the match like the first girl, so she had to be at least somewhat dedicated. Her angel, Lily, was a small speed-type, with a simple bodysuit made of medium-weight fabric. Serge was quietly surprised the girl had done so well making the armor, given her age. 

The emcee checked both contestants to be sure they were ready, and then raised the mike to her mouth, "Well, then! Without any further ado, let's get this match started! Angels to the Layer!" The small crowd that had gathered around the layer cheered, and the girl threw her angel into the Layer.

"Time to shine! Let's dance together, Lily!" Her angel landed in the layer and struck a pose, right foot pointed out and to the right, left foot resting on its toes behind the right. Her right hand was open, covering her face, and her left supported her right elbow. There was a round of applause, and then it was Serge's turn.

"Show the power of a dragon's fury, Karsh, King of Dragons!" Karsh landed on the layer, and took up a relaxed stance, left foot pointing at Lily, the right a pace back, pointing out to the side. His left arm extended down his side, palm up, and the right crossed his chest, hovering slightly above his left pauldron._Let's see, _Serge thought, _Lily is pretty lightweight, so a good hit should score a ringout, but that means she'll be fast…_He nodded to himself and chose his elements for the fight.

The emcee glanced sidelong at both angels, and then dropped her arm. "Angelic… fight!"

"Cleanse evil with your holy wind, Ethelinde, Saint of Wind!" A tornado swirled around Karsh, the occasional gaps of wind letting out beams of light. The whirlwind dissipated, leaving Karsh transformed once more. He had once more sprouted wings, only these were almost insect-like, glowing with a faint green radiance. His armor had turned green tinged with white, and all of the sharp edges had smoothed out, giving the armor an aerodynamic appearance. His damage capacity dropped by 20 percent.

Serge sat back, and Karsh mouthed the word, "Come." Lily's Deus swallowed hard and Lily broke out into a sprint, charging directly at the motionless Karsh. She threw a high punch, aiming for the face, but Karsh sidestepped and crouched low, grabbing her arm and spinning, flipping Lily over his back and slamming her onto the layer. Her damage meter fell 25 percent, and Serge smiled to himself; this was going to be too easy.

Lily spun from her position on the ground and caught Serge off guard, launching herself upward, right foot outstretched. Karsh's dodge was fast, but too late. The kick connected, and Karsh lifted off of the ground. Taking advantage, Lily spun, still in mid-air, and delivered a kick to the base of Karsh's neck, taking him to the ground.

Serge's eyes widened a bit, and Karsh's health dropped 15 percent. The added defense Light afforded had been a good idea, after all. _Time to get serious,_ Serge told himself, and launched his offensive. Dodging a spinning kick as he rose, Karsh dashed to the side and spun about, connecting a short jab with Lily's ribs. A second jab followed the first, and then another. He finished the combo with a quick kick to the side of the head, and Lily sailed through the air, barely catching her hand on the ground in time to prevent a ring-out. Lily's deus bit her lip as she watched her health bar drop by another 30 percent.

"Damn," he muttered, and Karsh broke into a run, intent on finishing the fight quickly. Lily had just risen to her feet when Karsh started his roundhouse, and brought her arm up just in time to deflect the blow. Karsh's kick went wild, leaving his back completely open to counter-attack, so Lily delivered a flurry of blows, slowly driving Karsh to the edge of the Layer.

"Oh, no you don't!" Serge yelled, and Karsh vaulted into the air, aided by a flap of his fluorescent wings, catching Lily in mid-punch. Her momentum, finding nothing against which to connect, pushed her forward, where she was balanced precariously on the edge of the layer. Serge decided it was time to try that idea he had had earlier in the week. "Now, Ethelinde, cleanse the Layer of all that is evil! Spirit Wind!" Karsh planted his feet on the layer behind Lily, and his wings began flapping, agitating the air around the angel.

The air slowly gathered to Karsh's outstretched palm, and he released it in Lily's direction. The ball of wind soared through the air, slamming into Lily's back and tossing her out of the layer. "Ring out! Karsh wins!" The crowd, which had steadily grown as more people heard about the fight, erupted into cheers and applause.

Dean's voice rose slightly above the din of the crowd from his place behind Serge, "Great job, Serge! That was totally awesome!"

Shawn joined in, "Really, Serge. Too cool!"

Serge grinned and lifted Karsh off the layer. He removed his headset and stood, "I was worried that wasn't going to work, and I was just going to look like an idiot."

"Well, too late for that, but good thing all the same!" Dean and Shawn's voices united for that brief sentence, and all three burst into laughter.

The PA clicked, and after a short tone, the crowds throughout the store quieted down. "This concludes the second round of our Angelic Layer tournament! We will now proceed to the third round. Will numbers 3, 10, 16, 42, 54, and 60 please report to the three tournament Layers. Again, numbers 3, 10, 16, 42, 54, and 60 please report to the tournament Layers."

Serge raised an eyebrow, "Well, that was fast." He walked over to the emcee and nodded. "54"

The emcee smiled and said, "You're going to be on the same layer you just got off of. Karsh will be fighting Angel Nariko, deus Meryl Summer." Serge nodded and took a seat, donning the headset once more and deploying the wings on either side. Meryl was in the class below Serge, and he had been friends with her when he was in the 8th grade. They had lost touch after he graduated to High School, but it seemed very likely that she would attend his school after she graduated in a few months. Meryl was relatively short, only 5'4", but she was an athletic girl, playing soccer and softball almost year-round. She had relatively short blonde hair that was almost always bunched up in a ponytail, and her green eyes radiated her zest for life.

Meryl took a seat across from him and smiled, "It's been a while, Serge."

Serge nodded and smiled as she put on the headset. "Touching reunion, isn't it?"

"Just play the game."

"Yes, ma'am. Show the power of a dragon's fury, Karsh, King of Dragons!" Serge threw Karsh once more into the layer. Flipping deftly through the air, Karsh landed on his right knee and fist in a kneeling position, left arm resting on his left thigh. He then rose and assumed the same fighting position as he used in his fight with Lily.

Meryl raised her angel and shouted, "Unleash the fury of a hurricane! Nariko, Thunder Goddess!"

Nariko was lightweight angel, with an overbearing emphasis on speed. With slightly above average attack, and dismal defense, Alicia relied on flurries of small attacks to chip away at an enemy's health, rather than finishing a fight in a few blows. She had long, dark hair tied back by a dark cloth hachimaki, with a few strands of hair arcing over the headband, the ends of which rested on her forehead. The rest of her hair was bunched into a ponytail that fell down to the small of her back, somewhat like that of Sonata. She wore a white and purple kenpogi with leather straps running in a criss-cross pattern on her shoulders, and a black sash to tie it closed. Her forearms were covered by fighting kote, with a large piece of leather and wooden armor guarding the forearm, and a smaller section covering the back of her hand. She wore black hakama, and black kyahan, as well.

Nariko landed upright, her left foot flat, and on the ball of her right. She paused to adjust her kote, and then took up a standard stance, with a low center of gravity and left arm half-extended, palm open to the side. Her right hand was balled up in a fist above her midsection, and she held most of her weight on her rear foot.

"Alright, then! The first bout of round three is about to begin with Karsh fighting Nariko! Angelic… fight!"

As soon as the emcee had finished talking, Nariko broke into a sprint straight at Karsh. A few paces away, she jumped into a spinning kick, trying to prevent Karsh from unlocking his hidden powers. Serge had planned for this, however, and timed the dodge perfectly. Karsh ducked in time to prevent Nariko from changing directions, and connected with a punch while she was still in mid-air. Nariko's health meter dropped by 5 percent. Meryl's frowned as Nariko hit the ground and muttered, "So much for that."

"Let your fury wash over all who oppose you, Xiuhcoatl, the magma serpent!" Serge shouted. Karsh smashed his fists together in front of him, and then, with what seemed like a great deal of effort, pulled them apart, each fist now pointing outwards. Karsh's skin hardened and changed hues to a dull black with veins of red running through it. Massive clouds of ash bound in the shape of wings hovered an inch from his back, and his armor turned obsidian. The first two bars and half of the third on Karsh's health meter turned from their red hue to a golden color.

Meryl smirked, "Fire and Earth, huh? As if your angel wasn't slow enough!" Nariko rolled to her feet and dashed at Karsh once more. Striking from below, she threw an uppercut, followed by a flurry of body blows. Karsh didn't retaliate, but rather took a defensive stance, arms crossed in an X in front of his torso, head tucked down behind his fists.

Nariko kept up the flood of blows, slowly chipping away at Karsh's health. Two minutes passed, and she finally dropped his health to 110 percent. Ultimately, she had to inflict another 20.1 percent damage and then avoid being attacked for the rest of the fight, and she would win. Another three minutes passed and Karsh was officially losing the fight.

"What's wrong? You aren't even going to try?" Meryl taunted Serge.

Serge shrugged, and Karsh took a swing at Nariko. She deftly dodged, performing a backwards handspring to put some distance between them. Magma streaked through the air after Karsh's fist and fell to the layer. The next three minutes consisted of Nariko dancing about Karsh, dodging slow but powerful attacks and irritating him with counters now and then.

Meryl smiled. "Seems like you can't hit me. Might want to go ahead and give up! Imagine that, I'm going to defeat the King of Dragons without breaking a sweat."

A minute later, the clock switched to counting the seconds, and Serge smirked. "Would you like to give up, now?"

Meryl laughed, and Nariko with her, still dancing about the blows. "You're so funny Serge. That's why I like you."

Serge nodded. "Funny indeed. Well, things might be getting a bit warmer pretty soon here. River of flames, consume all that stands in my way! Xiuhcoatl, Burning Tomb!" Karsh placed his hands together in front of him, with all his fingers pressed flat against each other. Then, he folded his two index fingers into his palms, resting their third knuckles and tips against each other. From this position, he laid his hands on the layer, and the magma that had followed his attacks grew, bonding together and dividing. Ten seconds passed, and half of the layer was covered, slowly surrounding Nariko.

Another ten seconds, and Nariko had nowhere to run. The lava reached her feet, and Karsh lifted his hands. Instantly, the lava hardened into rock, rooting Nariko firmly to the ground. "Remember, I gave you the chance to surrender." Karsh crossed the distance to Nariko, the rock crunching slightly underneath his boots. He delivered a crushing uppercut just as the clock reached zero. The hit connected with enough force to break the volcanic rock binding Nariko to the ground. She sailed through the air and landed a foot away.

A display rolled across the small screen above the layer, "Calculating damage…" Both Serge and Meryl watched in their headsets, biting their lips. Karsh only had 40 percent health left; his attack had to cause her to lose more than 55 percent for him to win. It had been a pretty big gamble, and Serge kicked himself for making the mistake.

The display reverted to the standard combat status screen, and Nariko's health bar steadily dropped. It stopped, and a gasp ran through the crowd. The emcee raised her free hand, and brought her microphone up to her mouth.

**End of Volume 5**

Author's Notes, futatsu: I know, I know. Evil, isn't it? I hope everyone liked the fights, it took me a while to work through them, though. :falls over: I'll get Volume 6 up before the 10th, so look forward to it!  
Mata ne,  
Karsh


	6. The Gathering Storm Breaks

A Dragon's Tale

Volume 6: The Gathering Storm Breaks

Disclaimer: Angelic Layer isn't mine, but the parts of this story that aren't CLAMP's are.

Author's Notes: Helloingses to you all! The long awaited (ha!) conclusion to my first official story arc has arrived! There's intrigue, fear, and a whole lotta action, so stay tuned! I apologize for not finishing this before I went on vacation, but preparations got in the way, but I'm here now, so let's move on and start the show! Read and review if you can find it in your hearts, and I'll see you at the bottom!

* * *

"Winner… Karsh!"

The audience erupted into a mixture of cheers, boos, and everything in-between. Serge had barely scraped a victory from the jaws of defeat. Meryl smiled and bowed her head in defeat. "Well, Serge… if I was going to have to lose to someone, at least it was you." She smiled and winked at him, "I was soooo close, though! I was hoping Nariko would be the first Angel to defeat Karsh… Hey, promise me you won't lose to anyone, Serge. Save that honor for me."

"You know I can't do that, Meryl. Aaron Lee is in the tournament. I can't win."

Meryl's expression fell. "Then even if I had won I wouldn't have been the first to defeat you. You'd already lost the moment you decided Aaron would beat you." Her face was a mixture of sadness and anger as she packed away her things and quickly left the Piffle Princess.

Dean rubbed his chin thoughtfully, "Y'know… I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say that you're an idiot. She's probably crying right now." Shawn gravely nodded in agreement and turned, walking slowly out of the store to the car, and Dean followed him, equally silent.

Serge, more than a little confused, gathered his things together and left the Layer area, checking with one of the officials for the time for the semifinals the next day. "Hey… wait a sec… Dean was supposed to give me a ride…" Serge groaned and went to find a payphone.

"Hey, mom…?"

"Hi, Serge! How did you do today?"

"I won both rounds. I'll be in the semifinals tomorrow."

"Strange… for having won you sure don't sound too happy. What's wrong?"

"Shawn and Dean were kind of upset with me, and they left me here. Could you come pick me up?"

His mother paused, wanting to push the issue further, and then changed her mind, "Sure. I'll be there soon."

The ride home was silent and awkward, Serge not volunteering anything, and his mother being too polite to bring anything up. Serge went upstairs when he got home and pulled out his cell phone. He dialed Meryl's number, and waited while the phone rang.

A man answered the phone, "Hello?" It was her father.

"Hi, this is Serge. Is Meryl in?"

"She is, let me go and let her know you're on the phone. You know, she came home really upset today. I didn't think she took that game you two play so seriously that…" He caught himself and cleared his throat. "Hold on."

Serge frowned to himself, now sure that Meryl had been crying. _But why would she be crying? She's old enough that simply losing a game of Angelic Layer wouldn't make her cry…_

"Serge?"

"Yes, Sir?"

"She, uh… Meryl said she doesn't want to talk to y-… anyone right now. Could you try calling back later when she's not so upset?"

"…Sure. Thanks, Mr. Summer."

"No problem, Serge. Always good to hear from you. Bye."

"…Bye."

Serge hung up and glanced about his room before throwing himself onto his bed. He stared at the ceiling for an hour trying to work out what had happened that afternoon. Ultimately he dozed off, until he was woken by the sound of his phone. After a few failed attempts to wildly grab at it, he sat up and answered the phone. "Hello?"

"Hey, Serge. It's Meryl. Look, I'm sorry for how I acted earlier today; I guess it was just the frustration from losing that got to me or something. If it's ok with you, can I come with you guys tomorrow to cheer you on?"

"I don't really know whether or not Dean and Shawn will be going with me, tomorrow. They were pretty angry with me themselves."

"Like hell we aren't going with you. If Meryl's forgiven you, we have no reason to be angry at you any more."

"What the… Dean?"

"Three-way calling, Serge."

"Right... Well, ok, I need to go, but I'll see you all tomorrow."

"Ok, good night, Serge."

"Night."

**Sunday…**

Serge and the others arrived at the Piffle Princess at 2:45 the next afternoon, and they headed directly to the Layer area to check the semifinals bracket. Serge clapped a hand over his face and groaned. "Oh, no… It's me versus Aaron."

Meryl sighed, "So that's it, then. You're just going to give up. Serge, you have a huge advantage over Aaron. You can use the elements, while nobody else can! Doesn't that count for anything?"

Shawn and Dean both nodded, and Dean added, "You're not a bad Deus, Serge, I really think you and Karsh stand a pretty good chance."

Serge grinned, "We'll see, I guess. My match is up first. Let's go."

Still rather peeved, Meryl, Shawn and Dean followed Serge to the layer where Aaron Lee was seated and waiting, a cross between a smile and a sneer on his face. "So then, Serge. You've made it at last. I've been looking forward to this for a while. Finally someone that poses a threat. Well, we should begin, shouldn't we?" The last part had been directed at the emcee.

She nodded and raised her hand, "Attention, ladies and gentlemen, the first match of the semifinals is going to begin. Probably the most anticipated match of the tournament, this round will pit Angel Karsh against Angel Sonata!" The crowd, by far the largest of any of Serge's battles, cheered, and the emcee shouted, "Angels to the layer!"

Aaron moved first, and Sonata was crouched on the layer. "Requiem of shadow and tears, Sonata!" Serge could've sworn he saw her blur into 5 separate copies for a moment, but rubbed his eyes before donning and activating his headset.

"Show the power of a dragon's fury, Karsh, King of Dragons!" Serge threw Karsh into the layer and noticed as he turned to land on his feet that he was having trouble concentrating enough to control Karsh. _You can't get intimidated, you have to stay calm, and go all out from the beginning. Speed is going to be key in this fight, so…_

Serge's thoughts were interrupted by both the crowd and the emcee. "Angelic… fight!"

Serge couldn't believe it. Sonata wasn't moving. Aaron _wanted_ him to activate his elements. Not wanting to disappoint, Serge made his decision and shouted: "Dance on the wings of a hurricane, Lei-Long!" A purple-grey Chinese dragon burst from the bottom of the layer, quickly circling Karsh in an upwards spiral, leaving him transformed once again. His wings were overlapping sheets of metal, across which an occasional streak of lightning would race. His armor was relatively unchanged, although the sharp edges were much sharper, and bolts of lightning raced across it. His damage capacity dropped by 10 percent.

"Sorry, Aaron, but I have to end this fast. Lei-Long, unleash your wrath! Tempest!" Karsh drew his arms back, and threw them forward in a sweeping motion before snapping them back to their original position. A blade of wind tempered with thunder shot forward, expanding until it spanned the diameter of the layer. Aaron smirked and waited until the last possible moment before Sonata vaulted over the attack and began sprinting across the layer to press the attack.

Sonata let forth a flood of attacks, all of which Karsh dodged. Weaving in and out of punches and kicks, Karsh spun and slammed the back of his fist into Sonata's gut. The speed and intensity of the blow knocked her off of her feet, and her damage capacity dropped 30 percent. Serge allowed himself a brief celebration; he had managed to wound the best Angel in America, and it was only 45 seconds into the match.

Aaron seemed unphased, however, and Sonata immediately began pressing the attack once again. Her attacks came faster this time, but Karsh was still able to dodge them, although he couldn't find an opening large enough for a counterattack. This went on for some time, Karsh and Sonata trading blows, but never landing any. Karsh jumped back and valuted over Sonata's head, landing behind her. He threw a punch at the back of her head, but she whipped down and then spun, catching Karsh in the stomach with her knee. Karsh lifted off the ground, hunched over, and Sonata brought her hands down onto the back of his head, slamming him to the layer. His damage capacity dropped 50 percent.

Serge winced and Karsh spun to his feet, barely missing Sonata with a swift roundhouse kick. He followed through the missed kick and used the momentum to deliver a short snap kick to her right knee. The joint gave a crack as it took damage, and a danger display popped up on Aaron's headset: "Warning: Severe damage to right knee joint. Operational capacity at an estimated 30 percent of normal parameters." Aaron's eyes narrowed and Sonata's health dropped another 20 percent.

Sonata's knee buckled momentarily and Karsh delivered a quick right uppercut, followed by an elbow to the back of the head, and he finished the combo with a knee to the ribs. Sonata jumped back, limping, and her damage capacity dropped by 45 percent. The crowd could barely control their excitement, as Karsh had roughly five minutes to cause five percent damage to Sonata. It was a guaranteed win.

"Well done, Serge. But I am a little disappointed. I was so sure you would be more of a challenge than this. Ah, well… in the end, it makes no real difference. You're a mediocre Deus that got quite lucky. You're nothing special, Serge. And now I'll prove it to you. Your career in Angelic Layer is over." Sonata stood once more, and her eyes changed from black to dark red; the same color as her hair. "Aeon break, Supreme God, Sekundes!"

Karsh froze in mid-stride, and Sonata walked calmly across the layer until she stood five paces away from him. She took a step back with her left foot, opening her stance, and several blurred mirror images shot out behind her in various fighting stances. Aaron's eyes narrowed. "Hijutsu: Hayumeken."

Sonata's hands wrapped around the hilt of an invisible sword, and she cut once, across Karsh's midsection. Time resumed, and Karsh dropped to the layer. His damage meter disappeared, and Serge's headset shut down. Serge glanced about, confused. "What…?"

"Winner, Sonata!"

**End of Volume 6**

Author's Notes II: Yay! End of arc! End of arc! Provided my Japanese isn't terrible, Aaron says: "Hidden Technique: Sword that Shatters Dreams." I hope everyone enjoyed the fight! Can't wait until next time when we'll learn exactly what powers the Dream Shatter Sword holds! Or do we? Stay tuned!


	7. Technical Difficulties

A Dragon's Tale

Volume Seven: Technical Difficulties

Disclaimer: CLAMP owns everything Angelic Layer related. My original characters are property of me. I don't want to get sued, and please don't plagiarize.

Author's Notes: I'm sorry! I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry! I had this plan, where I would have this Volume finished by the middle of August, and I just got swept up for preparations for school, and I've looked up and it's months overdue. These first few months at school have been hell, but things should slow down enough that I can update at least with a schedule that has some semblance of regularity.

There were a lot of questions asked in a review, and I figured a few of them would be good to answer here. First of all, Shawn is 16. And his name is indeed spelled Shawn. I know it's usually Sean, but hey. Secondly, the tournament that just ended was not a significant tournament in any capacity. It was a very, very local thing. All of the names I use for the various dragons Serge calls out are either from other, generally ancient, languages or mythology. On to the story! Read and review, and I'll see you at the bottom!

* * *

"Almost… almost…" Serge squinted in concentration as Karsh shakily rose to his feet in the layer. A week had passed since the tournament, and Karsh was barely making any progress. Serge didn't know how to explain it. Aaron's attack had done _something_, he just had no clue what that something was.

"Wow, you're still having that much trouble, Serge?" Meryl leaned over his shoulder and whistled lowly as his concentration broke and Karsh fell into a heap on the layer.

Serge turned and sighed. "Don't you ever spend time with any of your friends?" He laughed softly and took off the headset. "I don't get it. Sonata didn't even hit Karsh, but it's taken me a week to get back to how I was when I first put Karsh in the Layer."

"You know I have no life, Serge." Meryl winked and straightened. "My girlfriends are all out of town, so I decided to come to get some practice, and I saw you here, so I came over to say 'Hi.'"

Serge motioned to the seat across from him. "I'm here by myself, so that seat's open." Meryl nodded and took a seat, placed Nariko in the layer, and activated her headset.

"It really is strange though. That you're having so much trouble getting Karsh to work, that is." Meryl cocked her head to the side and pursed her lips, watching as Karsh shakily rose to his hands and knees.

"I really can't explain it. It's like learning how to walk all over again. Everything that I could do that had some semblance of normalcy… even if I concentrate my entire being on one action, Karsh still doesn't move like I want him to." Serge exhaled and closed his eyes. His concentration broken, Karsh slowly slid back to a prone position on the layer.

Meryl's expression changed, "It's almost as if…" She shook her head, "No, no, never mind."

Serge looked up, "No, what? If you have an idea of why Karsh isn't working…"

Meryl bit her lower lip, "Well, it's weird but it's almost as if—" Her sentence was cut short by Serge's cell phone.

"Ah, sorry, I need to get that. My mom's stopping on her way back from work to pick me up." Serge answered the phone. "Hello? Who's this? Yes… I'm her son… What? Are you sure?" Serge choked slightly, shot Meryl a pitiful glance, swallowed, and said, "I… I understand. I'll be there as fast as I can." He hung up.

"Serge? What happened?" Meryl looked genuinely concerned. She had never seen Serge like this. Not since… "Oh, no…"

Serge shakily nodded. "My mom was… was…" He grabbed his things, hastily stuffed Karsh into his backpack, and sprinted out of the store.

Meryl shakily sat down. "Not again… it didn't happen again…"

**End of Volume** **7**

**

* * *

**

Author's Notes, Part Two: Hmm… I'm not so sure I'm comfortable with the decision I just made, but the threads of the story are beginning to connect in my head. Work on Volume 8 will begin immediately after I post this, but I can't make any promises as to when it'll be out. It will, however, focus on Shawn and Dean. Look forward to it!


	8. Interlude Battle! Echo vs Farah

A Dragon's Tale

Volume Eight: Interlude Battle! Echo vs. Farah

Disclaimer: Angelic Layer is CLAMP's, the original characters are mine. I claim no credit for the pre-existing story points used as the starting point for A Dragon's Tale. By that same token, please don't claim any of my story points as your own. If you want to include something that belongs to me, just let me know and I'll probably be overjoyed to let you use it.

Author's Notes, Part One: This is a meanwhile, back at the ranch volume. A few days have passed since the fateful phone call, which, I promise, will be discussed. Without any further ado, let's get to the story! Read and review, and I'll see you at the bottom!

Shawn and Dean sat opposite each other. "Well, well," Shawn said, "Looks like you didn't lose after all."

Dean chuckled and tapped the side of his headset, deploying the wings. "Shut up. Let's go."

Shawn responded in like kind and bowed his head in mock reverence. "If you insist. After you."

Dean rolled his eyes. "I won't hold back, you know."

Shawn grinned, "I look forward to seeing exactly how much you've been holding back up until now."

The emcee raised her hand, "And now, for the final match of the tournament, Angel Echo versus Angel Farah! Angels to the layer!"

Shawn raised Echo and threw her into the layer, "Soar on the breath of a whispered song, Echo!" The small angel arced through the air, gracefully twisting to land with her feet together, her fingers interlocked but pointing up, head bowed, in the semblance of prayer.

"Fill the night with your Desert Requiem, Farah!" Farah quickly sailed through the air and landed sharply on one knee, then rose to her feet. She tightened her fighting gloves and took up a loose stance, visually similar to that of a boxer, but much more relaxed. Shawn looked up at Dean and winked, "Hey, Dean. This crowd sucks, doesn't it?"

Indeed the crowd was neither as enthusiastic nor as large as the finals warranted, but everyone present knew why. The most interesting angel had been mysteriously defeated, and until someone matched what Karsh had accomplished, enthusiasm would be lackluster at best.

Dean waved a hand dismissively, "Doesn't matter. I'm not worried about the crowd. On your guard!"

"Angelic… fight!"

Echo opened her stance and performed a few quick chops to warm up, before facing Farah and smiling.

Both angels kicked off the layer, sprinting towards each other. Echo crossed the middle of the layer and ducked underneath Farah's guard, delivering a quick spinning uppercut to her unprotected jaw. Farah's damage capacity dropped 10 percent.

Shawn grinned as the punch connected, "So you really weren't holding back after all, eh, Dean?"

Dean shrugged, "Not as such. Farah isn't a street fighter." Farah planted her feet, recovering quickly from Echo's uppercut. Shawn's eyes widened as he saw the next move, and Echo quickly attempted to jump backwards to widen the gap between them, but before she could break the close contact, Farah's arms wrapped tightly around her waist.

"She's a wrestler!" Farah threw her upper body backwards, performing a flawless suplex. Echo's head crashed against the layer and the crowd, now slightly interested, let out a collective gasp of pain. Echo's health meter dropped by 40 percent and a display appeared on Shawn's headset: "Warning: Heavy damage to neck joint. Additional impact will lead to likely breakdown of control equipment."

Echo kicked her legs forward, planting them on the layer and slipping through Farah's grip. She kicked off and backflipped over the prone Farah. Shawn muttered to himself, "Well, then. Can't take another hit like that, now can we, Echo?"

Farah quickly rose to her feet and lowered her stance, almost into a crouch, and began inching forward towards Echo. Closing the gap, Farah dove forward to tackle Echo to the ground. Echo quickly sidestepped the attack, delivering a downward chop to the back of Farah's neck, sending her crashing to the layer. Echo followed this with a punch to the back of Farah's head before bringing her right heel down onto Farah's unprotected back. Farah's health meter dropped by 60 percent.

Not giving Shawn a chance to widen the gap, Farah pushed off of the ground on all fours and tackled Echo to the layer. Pinned to the ground, Echo was helpless against the rain of punches that soon followed. The small angel struggled feebly to break free, but with her arms pinned to her side by Farah's knees, she wasn't strong enough. Shawn's mind raced as he watched his angel's damage meter grow smaller and smaller.

In a last-ditch effort, Echo kicked her legs upward and managed to hook her feet around Farah's neck. Pushing down with all of her might, Echo succeeded in pulling Farah away from her face enough to stop the barrage, but Dean quickly reacted and Farah began straining to pull herself forward enough to deliver the final blow. Shawn focused his entire mind on adding that extra ounce of power to Echo's legs that would pull Farah off of her, and, bit by bit, Echo gained ground.

Dean's mind raced. _Shoot. Now what do I do? Of course her legs would be stronger than Farah's midsection…Wait a minute…_Dean smiled.

If Shawn realized what Dean was smirking about, he was an instant too late. Farah violently extended her legs, performing a backflip, and slipped through Echo's feet. She latched onto Echo's leg, and swung with all of her body. The force of the swing lifted Echo from the ground and sent her sailing through the air. She passed over the edge of the layer, and the field on the edge of the layer shimmered.

"Layer out! Winner: Farah!" Farah bowed to the round of applause before exiting the layer.

Picking up Echo, Shawn smiled. "Well played. You're predictable, but I couldn't do anything to stop what you were planning."

Dean scratched the back of his head, grinning slightly. "Yeah, well…" He was interrupted by the announcer.

"Congratulations to both of you. As the first and second place winners in this tournament, Piffle Princess is pleased to present you with your prizes. Since you haven't won any official matches before this tournament, your Angel Card account hasn't been finalized, so you'll have to mail these in once you get your cards." Each of them received an envelope. Then the announcer turned to address those still gathered around the layer area. "In an effort to further reward those who consistently show skill on the layer, Piffle Princess has implemented a Silver and Gold Point system. These points can be accumulated by reaching the Finals of any store tournament. They can then be used towards purchasing exclusive equipment and modifications for your Angels. All of our previous tournament finalists' accounts will automatically be credited with their points. Thank you once again for your business, and we look forward to seeing your performances in two weeks."

Shawn's envelope contained a certificate for 100 Silver Points, and Dean's contained a certificate worth 100 Gold Points. Shawn smiled, "Well, that's pretty cool."

Dean nodded in agreement, "It's just too bad there isn't some sort of 'Makes your Angel work again' thing these could buy. We could give it to Serge."

The smiles faded from both their faces.

"Is he still at the hospital?"

"Yeah, he's been there since we left yesterday."

"Think we should go see how his mom's doing?"

"Think we should go see how _he's_ holding up?"

"Yeah, let's go."

**End of Volume 8**

Author's Notes 2: The hospital visit used to go here, but I changed my mind because it was really difficult to integrate it into the chapter with minimal awkwardness. So we got to see some of the supporting cast's potential here. I see bright things in the future for Dean and Shawn.

Volume 9 will answer some questions and create some new ones. Look forward to it!


End file.
